


Show Me the Ropes

by 3amepiphany



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Kinbaku, Sex Work, Shibari, sex solicitation, skillsharing, stage name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 19:28:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20698667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3amepiphany/pseuds/3amepiphany
Summary: A book, a card, and a class; a little bravery, a desire, and an envelope of cash.





	Show Me the Ropes

**Author's Note:**

> Protect sex workers in all of their multitudes - whether they're instructing courses or looking for their next meal or just enjoying the game.
> 
> It can be done without stymieing them, speaking for or over them, or generally treating them like criminals or victims of themselves. Allow them their agency.
> 
> https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbwjp4/sex-work-decriminalization-new-york-feminist-movement

Sara flipped the little card about in her hands nervously, staring at the computer screen. She should have asked Emil earlier, but how would she have known to do that? It wanted her to create an account. Already she was second guessing this. Was there no other way to contact this person? Well, she realized. Emil probably would have given her more than the card with this website were there more and different ways, especially considering that this “Scarlette Satine” was a local solicitor at the adult store. And Emil was very good at his customer service job there, she'd seen him at work when her hyper-protective brother Michele wasn't around to keep her from going inside the small shop.

But here she was with the only way she'd been provided: a card with the name "Scarlette Satine" and a link to a website. After a little more hemming and hawing, she signed up. Using a fake email, of course.

Emil had noticed she would constantly eye the beautiful silk cording hung up next to the riding crops, cuffs, leashes, and other items that could be put on hooks and displayed as such. "It's very lovely," he said, handing her an art book full of photos of what the rope was used for, and she couldn't help but agree. The thought had obviously hounded her for a good many more discreet visits to her friend at his workplace before he finally said, "There is someone doing lessons, if you’re interested.”

Sara decided she was, and not long after having signed up for a profile on the site, she was registering with Scarlette for a group course.

It wasn’t more than a few days after registering that Sara sat on a pile of plush pillows in Scarlette’s spacious studio, sipping at wine and conversing with another couple that were there for a lesson - a Japanese bookseller and his husband, a Russian linguist. At first she’d felt very weird about showing up alone, but they made her feel very comfortable while they all enjoyed their snacks and drinks. When she joined the group, dressed very modestly in something that looked straight out of an aerobics fitness video from the 80’s, Scarlette herself said that it was more than alright to be alone! Sara could be _her_ partner for the evening.

This thrilled her quite a bit as Scarlette was downright gorgeous. She seemed delicate, her skin soft and pale, reminding Sara of a porcelain figurine. Her hair was obviously where she’d pulled inspiration for her name from, as it was a very genuine auburn red, bobbed so as to showcase the gentle curl it held. Sara cursed Emil quietly as this couldn’t have been accidental. He could read people for their carnal instincts extremely well; that was partially what had nabbed him Michele almost as soon as they had met, not too many years ago, as much as Michele would deny it if he were asked about it. He’d also told Sara, after she’d taken the card, “She also mentioned individual services, with a pretty reasonable fee schedule. I mean. I asked on your behalf, I hope that was okay.”

“Were you worried that I wouldn’t?” she asked him.

He truthfully was, and in a way he was right to be. She'd lost all nervousness about actually being there to learn how to tie knots in a fashionably sensual manner, and to be tied up in such a way as well, and instead let it be replaced with nervousness at having such a beautiful teacher.

Scarlette, too, was Russian like the linguist, and they exchanged some courtesies and small talk while she readied their playspace for the evening. Down went a few piles of different colored rope, and to Sara’s surprise, it was all very different from what she had been looking at in the shop. Scarlette went into detail about each one, explaining the pros and cons, how they compared to one another, and how they compared to materials and diameters of other ropes that weren’t recommended for use in the hobby at all. To demonstrate she asked both Sara and the linguist to put an arm out, and she tied a knot on each of their wrists and forearms, sort of creating a ladder between the two of them. She invited the bookseller to come up and untie each one in turn, also showing the strength and density of the knots produced. Sara was very impressed at the feel of each rope’s “bite” into her skin, and the deftness of the knots as Scarlette had tied them.

It was a good, long evening, not just full of lessons in rope choice, rope care, and rope ratings for load bearing in case someone was hoping to get daring and was willing to get their supply at the hardware store, but also about things Sara had been anticipating: consent, comfort, care of the parties involved in the fun, and safe words of course. And oh, it was fun - she let herself be trussed up and then walked through trussing up another person, with Scarlette’s gentle voice and hands guiding her the whole time. Well. Except when she couldn’t move her hands, but that was the point of the wrap she had just learned. It was incredible to feel what each of those wraps and knots served to do in turn, and as the lesson went on she discovered she had more of a proclivity towards being tied up. Then again she thought back to all the fantasies she’d created and curated from staring at the silk cords and books at the store, and it made sense. She wanted to be part of the artform itself - on display.

Well, even if it was just for the person tying her up. She couldn’t imagine being unclothed at a moment like the one she’d just been released from, ropes pulled taut across her chest and between her breasts (catching on the buttons of her shirt), and her arms tied back just enough to cause her chest to push out prominently, all while others looked on.

But at the same time she also took a strange little bit of joy in watching the married couple fuss about how this or that would be a good position, and how this or that would be easier once their clothes were out of the way, and how they came out of the evening with an overall stronger sense of which of the two of them would like to be the one tied up, and how it was a surprise to both of them. It was incredibly charming and as they finished the last of their drinks and wound down the session with more chat and questions for Scarlette, it definitely made her realize that this wasn’t quite something she could recruit friends to do.

As she was putting her coat back on, the couple thanked her for being good company, and bid her good night. Scarlette stood at the doorway and waved them off down the walkway to their car in the parking lot, before turning to Sara.

“So, you’re Emil’s friend, yes?” she ventured with that same soft smile she seemed to never lose.

“I am, and I’m very glad to have taken him up on contacting you! I learned quite a bit tonight. I never really thought it would be… well. Like that. There’s a lot more to it than from what I’ve seen before this.”

“I am very glad, too. I do want to mention that I’m available for personal sessions, if that is something that you were curious about.”

Sara shoved her hands into her coat pockets, and she could feel her face grow a little warm. Damn that boy. “Well, in a way, yes. I’m not exactly looking for a relationship and I also don’t know how appropriate it would be to ask you out, anyways. You’re incredibly beautiful, but I also want to respect what you do here.”

“That’s very kind of you. And well, yes, I’m not a relationship sort of person. I quite like the arrangement I have.”

“After watching the other two this evening I kind of felt… still… well, limited in being into this alone. So I think more than anything I would like to book an individual session or two and you can. Um. Show me the ropes, per se.”

Scarlette’s smile widened, brightly. “We can discuss that now, if you’d like!”

Sara agreed to it - she knew that if she went home without making plans she would spend more time logging in and out of the website, hesitating and stalling and ultimately deciding that she shouldn’t. So she booked her for the next weekend after a last evening class.

She spent the next week in a heightened sense of exhilaration, wondering what to expect and trying to maintain some modicum of coolness around Emil when he came by the apartment she shared with her brother to hang out, and also trying to avoid the topic around Michele. That alone must have been difficult for Emil but he behaved, surprisingly.

Before she knew it, it was Friday evening again, and she pressed the doorbell of the little building just a little too hard in her nervousness. Scarlette appeared at the door, dressed in much the same manner as she had been the weekend before, though the colors were more muted this time around - a shiny, champagne leotard under a crop top made from an old t-shirt, with greyish leg warmers that had little sequins that winked and glimmered as she walked ahead of Sara, leading her back into the same room of the studio where the lessons were held. “I’ll admit that it kind of made me feel like I was back in the early stages of this teaching thing - ‘send me your friends, hell, please, _my_ friends, come and let me teach you to be kinky fucks,” Scarlette said, her heavily accented English music to Sara’s ears again after a week without it. “And he did, he told me he was sending you, Emil did. I’ll have to thank him for his constant advertising of me and my classes. I might comp him and his partner a class. I’ve not met his partner yet so I don’t know that it’d be a good offer.”

“I don’t know that his partner would be completely down with that,” she said, trying not to laugh. The very thought of her brother sitting down for this sort of thing, and the very thought of Scarlette learning that he and Sara were siblings… well. That could be just as interesting as it might be a nightmare. In an attempt to change the subject she moved on to one that was oddly less awkward than she imagined - payment. Scarlette was happy to take online payments for her courses, but this was cash, and cash only. Sara had made it a little softer and sealed the envelope with some pretty washi tape, and Scarlette complimented it graciously. 

“I recall that you liked to be the one in ropes,” she said, carefully counting the bills out. “Would you like me to stick with most of what we’d covered in the course? Applicable education?”

“I think that’s agreeable,” Sara said.

“Alright - get comfortable, and think of what you would like to use as that safety word. Remember, something that you’re not going to be yelling at me without purpose.” With that, Scarlette disappeared, coming back a few minutes later with a few shanks of the tosse jute that seemed, in Sara’s opinion, the best feeling rope out of all the samples they’d played with.

She’d settled herself on the plush pillows and floor cushions, and was mostly undressed when she let the word “Rendezvous” slip past her lips - something that she wasn’t going to say mistakenly. It felt odd in her own accent, aloud, and that was satisfactory. Scarlette reminded her again that regular commands such as “No,” “Stop,” “Uncomfortable,” would grant hesitation, but they’d be confirmed before continuing. “Rendezvous” was a hard halt.

They started simple, with the same harness that she’d wound up with over her blouse during the course, only this time the soft, pliable jute laid across her skin there directly, and it changed the entire energy of the moment. This, she liked. This she liked a _lot._ The feel of Scarlette’s gentle touch against her breasts and nipples was so much more sensual here, and she leaned into the cupping and fondling with a small sigh. As she moved so did the ropes, and they were taut one moment, slack with another movement, and then taut yet again. What a sensation! And the whole time Scarlette spoke to her, offering her a few different options in the way this could go. Would she like to be on her tummy (her “soft tummy,” Scarlette said, running a hand across it so gently, cooing her ear)? Perhaps her back (Sara squirmed a bit, delightfully, as a finger traced ever so lightly up along her spine, between her shoulder blades)? 

Sara opted for her back, which allowed Scarlette a little more leeway. Or as Sara soon found out, a _lot_ of leeway. Ensuring that there weren’t any knots in spots she’d be laying down on, there was a little more contemplation about where to begin with a beginner. Some strokes down her thighs and a little petting at the backs of her knees had her nice and curious as to where Scarlette would decide to take her next, and she was pleasantly surprised to follow Scarlette’s deft hands as she looped some lengths of rope down from the harness to Sara’s thighs, and made quick work of some wide, supportive wraps that, with some tugging and pulling on the right lashes, effectively trussed her knees up almost to her breasts.

Almost. There was a bit of wriggle room. She’d need it, she was told.

Her hands, Scarlette took and played with a bit, mostly just to give her time to get used to the feeling of being as exposed as she currently was, and in coupling that with the feeling of all the soft kisses on her fingers and palms, she let herself fully relax. And it was a little difficult, given that she was still incredibly excited, but eventually it happened, and Scarlette could tell - with an inquiry of if it was okay to keep going, she started in on securing Sara’s forearms together and then down to the knotted juncture of the harness that sat right between her breasts.

Both satisfied with this, Sara wiggled a foot around in the air a bit, okay with having that much range of motion left at the very least. Scarlette sat back for a moment, playing at her curly auburn hair and watching Sara explore the limits she was now bound to. She took this opportunity to undress and upon coming back over to Sara, ran the tips of her fingers along the backsides of her legs again, and then along the soles of her feet.

This sent Sara into a bit of a fit, writhing and laughing, and feeling the tosse bite in some places and pull in others. It was such a maddening feeling, being just restrained enough with these few ties alone and while she knew it wasn’t entirely in the same manner as the photography she’d committed to memory, she was very happy with this as it was. There would be time to learn fancier knots and time to tie more of them - this was a wonderful easing into the practice. She said as much aloud after having caught her breath and adjusted to the bindings again at rest and Scarlette’s sharp blue eyes seemed to sparkle fiercely at the mention of the more intricate designs and tighter ties. “So we find the inspiration,” Scarlette said mischievously. Sara remembered that she didn’t really go into that during the previous course - just expressing her interest in it aesthetically was what she was willing to say aloud at the time. This was wildly more intimate now, and she felt sort of compelled to explain.

Scarlette slowly started edging back in on the matter at hand - Sara, and kissing gently along Sara’s legs - while Sara spoke about how she had just been so visually drawn to the way the patterns were formed and how tantalizing they were. How she felt thinking about what it might be like versus what it felt now. And Scarlette let her go on, letting her know that she was listening with soft hums of acknowledgment here and there.

Eventually Sara became a little too distracted to continue. She drew in a sudden breath as Scarlette worked closer and closer to her vulva, and she also drew her knees in towards her a bit more, letting up enough slack on the bottom portion of the harness ties to let her twist her torso and hips without too much tension. After quite a bit of teasing and sloppy, sucking kisses, Scarlette sat back for just a moment, and made it very clear and obvious to Sara that she’d be using a dental dam, and eventually some finger cots as well.

It hadn’t even occurred to her, but she was more than okay with this; there was nothing to the dam at all and she exclaimed as she strained against the ropes excitedly, feeling the movement of her legs fighting to stretch out pull her whole midsection up and off of the pillows. She clasped her hands together tightly as Scarlette worked away at her with her mouth and tongue - feeling her forearms catch on their anchor as well. Her toes curled, and she tried to keep the freer portions of her legs from flailing about too wildly so as to keep from hitting Scarlette. There was so much pent up energy within her at not being able to move about and she was certain that it was all pooling right into her stomach, amassing itself as if she were some sort of spring-wound toy, and she found that it took her half as long to release it than in any other, regular everyday session, with her hand or a vibrator. And there wasn’t much recovery time alotted, either. As soon as she could fit in a deep gasp or two, she was right there again, that same vibrant feeling building just as quickly as it had that first time.

Simple ministrations turned into probing, shallow at first and having quite a bit of fun with her clitoris, and Sara grew louder as that turned into a couple of fingers deep within, feeling about and seeking the spots that made her pull at the ropes so hard as to almost bring her up to a sitting position.

She came once or twice more that she could clearly remember, and yelling a few choice words and phrases in her native Italian as well, but she was almost certain there were at least another two or three times before she was completely done and just couldn’t anymore. And she could very clearly remember Scarlette speaking to her softly in Russian as she practically twitched and shook herself back into a whole state of being. She lay there, slowing her heavy breathing and letting the taut ropes and ties basically hold her still for the moment.

The course itself was well worth the initial investment, she decided.

The following Sunday she popped into the store to bring Emil a coffee, having danced around his text messages for the last day or so. He started in immediately. “I promise I won’t tell Mickey, Sara, please, _please_ spill the details, you owe me that much at least!” Emil leaned so far over the counter that he knocked the basket of loose condom and dental dam samples that doubled as the store’s “business cards” over the far edge.

Sara caught it quickly, fumbling it a bit, and as she knelt to pick up the few that hand landed on the floor she laughed. “Do I, though?”

“I don’t get exit polls at all, ever. Think of this as an exit poll. A post-interview. I made a recommendation - how good was it?” He smiled at her, charmingly, that same smile he used on her brother to get anything and everything out of that boy, and she shrugged, laughing at him again. “Sara, we’re both gay. You and I. This isn’t me asking for a spank bank tale. You solicited sex from a very beautiul lady with a stage name, and I want to hear about it. I genuinely want to know what you thought, what it was like, would you do it again….?”

“Solicit the story, you perv,” she said, putting the basket back. “And you can’t use not telling my brother as payment. And don’t you dare try dangling her real name in front of me, I don’t want it.”

“I would never. Listen. I will comp you a copy of that art book you keep looking at. Spill.”

She lit up at that prospect. “Fair. Okay. Deal.”


End file.
